Epileptic children in regular classroom placement.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between early and late age of seizure onset with the level of academic achievement for two groups of primary generalized epileptic children who were enrolled in the regular classroom setting, Furthermore, the study sought to determine if intelligence, spatial organization ability and sequencing ability influenced the level of achievement of these two groups.As per definition, the primary generalized epileptic children chosen for this study evidenced no focal electroencephalographic abnormality. The electroencephalographic patterns were bilateral, synchronous symmetrical spike and wave activity varying in frequency from two to six cycles per second. Subject selection was based primarily upon a neurologist's interpretation of the subject's electroencephalographic record.Subject selection was made from either a survey of 85 epileptic children within two Indiana school systems or from approximately 1,000 patients of an outpatient epileptic clinic. All subjects demonstrated right hand dominance and no one manifested any form of physical handicap or was diagnosed as having a primary emotional disturbance, The chronological age at time of testing ranged from nine years to 16 years 11 months, Also required was a Full Scale IQ greater than 70, as measured by standardized instruments of intelligence.The 61 subjects were divided into groups based upon the age of seizure onset, Group I consisted of 30 subjects whose age of seizure onset was birth to four years 11 months, inclusively and Group II consisted of 31 subjects whose age of seizure onset was six years to 15 years 11 months, inclusively. The age span specified for early age of seizure onset corresponded to interruption within the first half of the perceptual maturation span and the age span designated for late age of seizure onset involved interruption within the latter half of the perceptual maturation span and beyond.All subjects were administered equivalent test batteries. Achievement was determined by grade level scores obtained in reading recognition and arithmetic. The reading recognition grade level scores were obtained from either the Wide Range Achievement Test r Reading Subtest or the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests - Word Identification Subtest. The arithmetic grade level scores were obtained from the Wide Range Achievement Test Arithmetic Subtest. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children or the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale were used in assessing Full Scale IQ, Spatial organization was defined by the location scoreobtained from the Tactile Performance Test divided by the total number of stimulus blocks on the form-board. The difference i_n time scores obtained from Part B minus Part A of the Trail Making Test defined the sequencing ability score.In order to determine statistical significance between the dependent and independent variables simultaneously, a multivariate discriminant analysis of variance or analysis of covariance was applied, A .05 level of significance was set in testing the statistical significance of each null hypothesis.No significant differences were found between the two primary generalized epileptic groups for any of the hypotheses tested. Consequently, this research did not support the notion that primary generalized epileptics of early seizure onset perform significantly lower academically when compared with primary generalized epileptics of late seizure onset.. Even when Full Scale IQ, spatial organization ability and sequencing ability were assigned as covariates, no significant differences were found.From inspection of coefficients of the multiple correlation squared, results indicated that academic achievement was predicted as accurately from Full Scale IQ alone as when spatial organization ability and/or sequencing ability were used as additional predictors.Thesis (D. Ed.